Welcome to Playa Country

Playa Country is a weekly radio show that features conservation and wildlife experts—as well as farmers, ranchers and land managers— talking about conservation practices that improve wildlife habitat and landowners’ bottom-line. On this page, you can listen to current and past episodes, find more information about the topics, as well as a list of farming and ranching resources that may be helpful.

Posted: August 14, 2016

A healthy playa lake is a primary way groundwater is replenished by surface water. And a playa with a perimeter plant buffer traps sediments and improves the quality of water as it moves to the aquifer below. When we can take steps to increase the amount of recharge to the aquifer by conserving and restoring […]

Posted: August 7, 2016

Mark Hilliard of Hale County, Texas, bought the native grassland on which his playa sits from family members, then protected the playa and its grassland buffer with a permanent Wetlands Reserve Easement. He couldn’t be more happy with NRCS assistance removing sediment from the playa to improve its function and create bird habitat. Learn what’s involved in negotiating a perpetual easement.

Posted: August 1, 2016

When we started irrigating the High Plains in the 1950s, the Ogallala was understood to be that vast, virtually endless supply of water. When the water table dropped, we thought the groundwater could flow unimpeded from one area to another. But the groundwater of the Ogallala aquifer really doesn’t flow laterally with much speed. Playa […]

Posted: August 1, 2016

The city of Clovis, New Mexico, is taking an innovative approach to ensuring its future water supply — playa conservation. And what this city of 38,000 is doing might become a model for other municipalities on the High Plains. The city government put a million dollars of economic development funds toward playa conservation. Most immediately […]